500 words a day on whatever I want

Troy Davis

Troy Davis (1968- ) is an American prisoner who was found guilty of killing police officer Mark MacPhail in a Burger King parking lot in Savannah, Georgia back in 1989. As I write this Davis is set to be put to death next week on September 21st 2011 at 7:00 pm (2300 GMT).

There is so much doubt about his guilt that many are against it: not just the NAACP, Amnesty International, Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu and the pope but even William Sessions, former head of the FBI and one-time Texas judge. And Bob Barr, former Georgia Republican Congressman. No bleeding-heart liberals they.

The case against Davis has fallen apart. It was based on eyewitness testimony alone, no physical evidence. Seven of the nine eyewitnesses have taken back their story. One of the two who still sticks to his story is the likely killer himself, Sylvester “Redd” Coles.

Many said they were forced by the police to lie in court. Some were in trouble with the law themselves and were threatened with prison.

One witness said:

I got tired of them harassing me, and they made it clear that the only way they would leave me alone is if I told them what they wanted to hear. I told them that Troy told me he did it, but it wasn’t true.

Another witness was able to pick out a picture of Davis’s face, a black man whose face she saw from across a parking lot in the middle of the night. Her amazing powers of observation were probably aided by the appearance of Davis’s face in the news. And, as she puts it, because she was on parole.

One eyewitness signed a police statement that Davis did it and yet could not read!

Meanwhile it seems likely that Redd Coles is the killer:

Nine people have signed statements to that effect.

He has bragged about doing it.

He was the one who talked the police into believing Davis did it.

He was the one who MacPhail approached right before he was shot (Coles was beating up a homeless man).

Shortly after the killing Coles hid a gun that was the kind which killed MacPhail.

Judges are extremely unwilling to overturn jury verdicts. So it has been hard for Davis to even appeal the case. When the US Supreme Court allowed a hearing on the matter in 2010 (Clarence Thomas dissenting) Davis had to prove his innocence with stronger evidence than that which had proven him guilty. In effect he needed physical evidence. But the police had gathered no DNA, no fingerprints, no murder weapon.

The main way death row cases are overturned is through DNA evidence. Most of the known innocents were put on death row through eyewitness testimony alone, just like Davis.

His fate now rests in the hands of the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles. He will appear before them two days before he is set to die. They will then decide whether to proceed. His execution has been put off three times already.

This case appears to be a complete travesty of justice. It also highlights something I’ve commented on many times and have observed personally in my nearly 30 years within the legal system: the systemic change in our criminal justice system, over the past 40 years (plus or minus), in which law enforcement in general, and prosecutors in particular, have moved away from a “try to do justice” standard to a “convictions at any cost” standard. “American Violet” highlights this, as does the Connick case out of New Orleans, etc. I think this is being driven at least in part because prosecutors often see their office as a stepping stone to higher political office, and the perception is that do make this move successfully they need to be able to tout a “successful” record of prosecutions. The process has been aided by the so-called “war on drugs,” which has made it extremely easy, especially when combined with three strikes laws, to obtain convictions, especially in the minority communities. Cases like this one highlight another element in that trajectory, which is the role of juror racism and its impact on the ease of obtaining convictions of black men accused of violent crimes.

this is ridiculous…he doesn’t deserve to be put to death, this is why i’m against the death penalty except in EXTREME cases of cruelty…like for war criminals who commit or conspire to commit acts of genocide or crimes against humanity…crimes like this deserve life in prison and it appears that troy isn’t even guilty so he really shouldn’t even be in prison

i hate to say it, but there has always been racism in america and always will be. Cant trust a cop as far as you can throw a stick. Many of my family members (myself included) have been harrassed by the police. Racism goes back to the roots of slavery and our alleged “freedom”.

I just heard this story today. I feel awful… I just prayed and will continue to do so and I will find a petition to sign. Casey Anthony can walk free…but not him?
Some say he should get a prison sentence at least! What? I say let him get a new trial. He has been defending himself for 20 years and asking for a fair trial! The testimonies were false because of coersion and now 7 out 9 have recanted them. NOTHING links him to the case besides being at the wrong place and at the wrong time.
They wanted physical evidence proving his innocence when only hearsays and eyewitnesses that lied got him to where he is…a pending, horribly probable execution. I mean how can they not see what mockery and shame they’re turning the justice system out to be??

Someone said this on a website:
“Recently Elisa Baker (an adult) of NC admittedly murdered and dismembered her 10 yr old handicapped stepdaughter and she gets maybe 18 years in prison. Caylee Anthony walks out free to write a book (maybe TV movie) about killing her 4 yr old daughter. And now after 20 years GA wants to kill a man who possibly killed a policeman when he was 19? ”

True…true…true so true. It just breaks my heart, why is our skin such a vilefied, horrific, repulsive external organ to see? I just don’t, I do not comprehend this kind of hatred. It pains to such a level of…
I’m just disgusted and sad.

Also, someone else wrote this which really speaks volumes:

“Bob Barr’s editorial about this case is on point. There is reasonable doubt in Troy Davis’ case and therefore, he should be acquitted. There is no physicial evidence, DNA, or anything else to place him at the scene of the crime. It is obvious that coercion was a factor in this case as well as admitted lying on the part of “false” witnesses. My, my, my, look to what our country has become — one which would rather execute an innocent man rather than admit that a gross miscarriag­e of justice has been committed. I suppose I am sensitive to Mr. Davis plight because my own son who is serving eight years without having the benefit of physicial evidence or DNA by forensics to prove his guilt. No, he was convicted on his previous record. Mr. Davis was convicted on the testimony of witnesses who lied. Why then can’t he be released on the testimony of those same witnesses who are now telling the truth? We are often accused of of “playing the race card.” We don’t have a choice; it is the one that America consistent­ly deals us. All you’ve got to do to see this case from Troy Davis perspectiv­e is switch shoes with him. Perhaps then there would be less inclinatio­n to call for his death. ”

**Abagond…why have you not written on all the horrific evens happenning in Haiti? I would really like it if you would, with UN having spread cholera by disposing of waste in the water killing thousands or the rapes going especially the one of the young boy that was video-taped with the officials laughing in the background…

Yea, this case is super messed up. I just found out about the details of the case yesterday, coincidentally a few hours b4 running into a march against his sentence in downtown atlanta (pretty big mixed race crowd btw). Is their honestly nothing the law (which is supposedly supposed to protect us) can do?

As blackmen, we keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Blackmen allow themselves to get caught up in bulls**t, and when the s**t hit’s the fan, they want blackwomen to save their black asses from “The Man.” The same group of blackmen run around killing, raping, and robbing their people, and have the nerve to portray themselves as victims, Really!? I have a lot of anger with the current generation of young black males, and will for the foreseeable future. They haven’t earned the right to complain about a damn’ thing. I support the death penalty for those who are truly guilty, but it’s not applied equally, which is the fundamental issue. If a whiteman kills a black person, the chances of him getting the death penalty are slim to none, which is why black folk raise a ruckus over the issue. Abagond, blackmen have to get real with themselves. All of the self-hatred that I see among a lot of blackmen, as it relates to violence, inter-racial affairs, hiv/aids, awol fatherhood, sexism, and war against other blacks will be our destruction. Many of us have a hard head and a soft ass, Unacceptable!

This black man is probably gonna die next week for a crime he didn’t commit, but a rat lookin irresponsible white girl who killed her child WHICH EVERYBODY KNOW SHE DID walked away scott free. And people tell me this country is fair tsk

Yes, and baboon-faced Casey Anthony has been all wide-eyes and giant grins ever since! That’s not the look of an innocent person whose beloved daughter has died (by whatever means). It’s more like, “Oh my G-d! I got away with murdering the brat! Suckkkers!”

@herneith: hear hear! I always have wondered the urge to kill people by the so-called decent society and decent people. Death penalty has never been about justice, it is about revenge. On personal level I understand that, but on the wder context I am against it. There has been too many “mistakes” and one innocent person killed is too much. That includes the victims of murders.

LIfe sentence is much worse punishment because the guilty has to live in un-humane conditions for the rest of his/hers life, behind bars, in prison, thinking about the deed every single day 24/7, year after year, watching other inmates, being affraid of them etc. Serial killer Eileen Wuornos wanted to die finally, some murderers have asked to be executed faster. So even from that perspective death sentence does not work.

And here we are: one more innocent man is going to die. For what? Justice?

“Monday September 19, 2011, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles met to consider a clemency request from attorneys representing condemned inmate Troy Anthony Davis. After considering the request, the Board has voted to deny clemency,” the board said in a statement Tuesday morning.

Here’s an interesting story about an upcoming execution. Does this guy deserve it? Most definitely. Do I agree with it? Not particularly. The death penalty is obviously no deterrent, nor does it bring back a murdered innocent. There are no easy solutions regarding ‘the ultimate punishment’, and there have been far too many innocent lives taken by it. It’s a doozy of a quagmire…

For me the death penalty is simply morally wrong. How can a society tell an individual that you are not to use killing as a form of solving problems when it does so? And this is not about the monopoly of violence which all states try to preserve. This is about the institutional revenge.

Even Russia has stopped executions and there are some really bad dudes out there, including cannibals etc. USA is in the same league as China, North Korea, Iran etc. Funny how the “axis of evil” does the same as USA?

Also what happened in Illinois just few years ago? Right. The governor stopped executions when it was found out that there were dozens of innocents excuted in the past and in the death row.

Death penalty as a deterrent does not work. What happens is that it makes the criminals even more hard core, even more desperate. The reason is very simple: if you have killed one man, why not kill two or three more? Makes no difference. That was the thinking of the russian criminals back in the days of Soviet Union and that made them what they became: stone cold criminals with no remorse.